The next two chapters are meant to be a little bit lighter than some of them have been so far. I hope you enjoy. :)

Something just didn't feel right, and as Bulma's jaw tightened with the displeasure of being awake she couldn't help but strain her eyelids to keep them closed. Light was hitting her in the face, tearing her away from her dreams far earlier than she'd been ready, but she'd be damned if she was going to open her eyes just yet.

Bulma could feel something under her - against her. Enough so that she realized she wasn't curled up in bed, nor was she uncomfortably laying on the plush couch in the living room of the capsule house. Though she hadn't looked around to scan her surroundings, the Bluehead was acutely aware that she was not sleeping in a familiar place. Still, she was far too groggy to understand what had happened or where she could possibly be.

At least, that was the case, until she took note that whatever she was laying on was moving. Slightly and slowly, as if trying to keep from disturbing her, the figure underneath her chest was surely twisting away. It was then that Bulma recognized this action. She'd felt such a sensation plenty of times when her ex-boyfriend, Yamcha, was trying to get up in the middle of the night for a drink of water without waking her. But, she wasn't with Yamcha, she thought. What on Earth could this be?

... And that's when it all came flooding back.

She snapped upright to a sitting position before her eyes were even fully open, and in front of her she saw two muscular legs. Standing above her and motionless as if in shock, Bulma looked up to see that Vegeta was peering down at her with wide eyes. She was breathing heavily, as if she'd just been jolted awake from a nightmare, and the two stared at each other in silence as they registered the scene.

'Damnit,' Vegeta thought, feeling like an animal that had been caught in front of headlights. He'd tried to slip away without her noticing, but it hadn't worked! He couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking. Had she woken at any point during the night? Did she remember more than he did? Had she been awake when he had apparently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest? Even if she hadn't, what was she feeling now that she'd woken up like this?

This... this was bad. This was really bad!

"You..." Bulma said hoarsely, groggily pulling herself to her feet. She was still breathing heavily, taking in a sharp pant as she dusted off the backs of her legs. A scowl was laced across her jaw, but it didn't take a facial expression to know that she was unhappy. Her voice had already done the job.

Vegeta didn't even bother responding - what was there to say? There would be no pretending this hadn't happened, no excuses or explanations. He wouldn't even have the chance of avoiding her until he'd had the chance to process everything, himself. The Bluehead had woken up in the middle of his exit, and any hope of those options were now gone. The saiyan felt ill when he remember that none of that might have mattered, anyway. For even if she hadn't caught seen that he'd been laying with her, there was no telling how much she already knew from the night before…

"You..." Bulma repeated, her tone even more irritated. The saiyan furrowed his eyebrows. Here it was - she was going to yell at him for putting his arms around her. She was going to call him dirty names and accuse him of unruly motives, claim he took advantage of her, cause a scene about her personal space…

It was coming.

But, something that Vegeta had learned early on in his time of knowing this woman, was that she was full of surprises. And as it turned out, this morning would be no exception to that trait.

"YOU!" Bulma screamed, a furious palm flying through the air and colliding with the side of Vegeta's face. He felt a thud on his cheek, and the wide-eyed saiyan looked up to see that she was now nursing one of her hands. Evidently, this slap had hurt her far more than it had stung him.

But, it was so weak! He would have thought she was intentionally holding back in her hit if she wasn't currently glaring at him as if she were about to sentence him all the way to hell. He put a finger to his assaulted cheek, noting again just how unperturbed it was despite all this.

And, as he stared into her wrathful eyes and considered her feebleness, he laughed.

It wasn't a hearty laugh, nor was it one that was mocking. It was more of a chuckle, as if Vegeta were appreciating a simple joke that had been made. His hand was still placed firmly on his face as he watched the woman in front of him, his dark eyes crinkling into a smile.

"Don't laugh at me!" Bulma yelled, looking up from her sore palm that was still throbbing with recoil. "What is wrong with you! How dare you!?"

Vegeta was no longer laughing now, and the amused smirk on his face was starting to fade. Here it came. The impending argument. She was probably going to claim that he'd tarnished her pride by getting physically close to her - or something to that degree.

"Do you know how much you scared me last night?! Transforming like that!" Bulma was shouting. "I thought I was going to die! That is not okay, Vegeta!"

For the second time in only a few minutes, the saiyan was caught off guard by the Bluehead in front of him. She wasn't yelling at him about their sleeping positions? She hadn't even acknowledged that at all! The thing she was mad about was him changing forms? This wasn't at all how he'd expected the conversation to go, but Vegeta found he would gladly take it. "I wasn't going to harm you, Woman."

"My name is BULMA! And how was I supposed to know you weren't going to hurt me?! You could have said something before just running outside and summoning some kind of artificial moon to change under! A little warning would have been appropriate, don't you think!"

"Perhaps I might have informed you, had I known you'd seen the Oozaru form before."

"O-Oozaru?" Bulma said, the hostility leaving her voice. For just a moment the rage evaded her eyes, and instead it was replaced with delightful curiosity as her brain surely morphed puzzle pieces together. But the moment was only temporary, and as soon as it came it was gone. "Of course I've encountered it!" Her eyebrows furrowed once again. "My best friend was a saiyan, in case you've forgotten!"

"Right." Vegeta grunted. "So, you remember how he acted during such times, then. He killed anything that crossed his path, on a rampage for blood I take it?"

"Of course! And I thought you were going to do the same! I thought-!"

"Knowing that's how he behaved when he changed shape, was I wrong to assume it never happened at all?" The saiyan cut her off. "You are standing here before me, alive and well, are you not?! Perhaps I knew the chance of you surviving such an event is so slim that I thought it must have never happened!"

All anger left her eyes then, and this time it was not just a temporary moment of distraction. She really was calming down. He made a good point, and as upset as Bulma was at the idea of him acting so recklessly, he was right. He really had maintained control of his actions… He really hadn't hurt her, and he really wouldn't have had a reason to give her such a disclosure if she'd never seen an Oozaru transformation before...

Now looking like her normal happy self, if not a big curious, the Bluehead was eying Vegeta up and down. "Hey..." She mumbled.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow. What was she doing? She was behaving so strangely this morning! Oh, why couldn't they just end this exchange already and start with their daily routine of traveling to their next destination, already?

Flashbacks of the night before were replaying in her head. While she had been so distracted by everything that had been going on, Bulma hadn't realized until now that Vegeta's muscle shirt and slim-fitting pants had stretched to accommodate his enlarged body after he'd transformed. She took a step towards Vegeta, holding a hand out to brush her fingers against the material on his chest. "Amazing!"

"What are you doing?!" He gasped, taking a step back.

"Your clothes... they didn't tear off when you grew..." She breathed, a wide smile on her face. Looking like someone who had just discovered the key to eternal enlightenment, the Bluehead looked up into Vegeta's eyes and beamed. "Your clothes reverted back to their original shape perfectly. You'd never be able to tell they've been through so much! This... This is amazing!"

"Well," Vegeta replied with a gulp. "Just, don't… Don't touch it."

"Okay, but you'll let me touch it when we get to my place, right?!" Bulma said, and there was so much breathless anticipation in her voice that Vegeta momentarily forget what exactly it was. "You'll what?" He gulped again.

"We have plenty of changes of clothes at home. You can wear something else while we inspect your outfit. I'll bet my Dad can find a way to replicate the material while I work on my special project, and we could have several new sets made before we go!"

"I don't need more sets of clothes." Vegeta replied. This morning had started with her trying to give him a verbal lashing, and less than five minutes later she was offering him favors? What in the…? Surely this must have been a trap of some sort!

"Okay, then!" Bulma replied, looking somewhat offended by his rejection, yet still too excited to let it dampen her mood. "We won't give you any new clothes, if that's how you feel. But – please, Vegeta - I still want to inspect the fibers in your pants! Oh, tell me you'll let me!"

"Don't say it like that!" Vegeta felt his cheeks burning. "Oh, alright, fine! If you care so much about how the material is made, then do what you wish. Just – stop! Stop with the subject right now!"

"Great!" Bulma squealed, and with that she turned and began to jog for the house. "Come on Vegeta, let's go! If we leave now we should be able to get home before sundown!"

She hadn't even uttered a word about the position she'd woken up in. For a moment, as he watched her running away so cheerfully, Vegeta considered that she might not have known they'd been cuddling overnight after all. But that just didn't make sense! She'd seen him crawling away from her, hadn't she! Did she really not care?!

.

"We're here!"

Bulma was jumping up and down, clapping her hands together and humming happily as soon as the jet touched ground on the landing strip outside the Briefs' family home. "It's only been about a week, but it feels like it's been months!"

Vegeta, who had spent another day working out in the cargo area of the plane, had his arms folded over his chest as he waited for the Bluehead to open the door. He'd been keeping as much distance as he could from the bubbling woman beside him, trying to avoid any opportunity for her to bring up the compromising position they had been laying in that morning. But she hadn't even mentioned the matter, and as she stood beside him now it seemed to be the last thing on her mind. She was completely beside herself with the excitement of being home.

"Come on!" She grinned as she clicked the button the open the door of the jet. "Let's get inside, and then you can take off your clothes!"

"Stop wording it like that!" Vegeta croaked.

After being whisked up the stairs and through a dark house that was much less lively than the previous encounter the saiyan had with it, Bulma pulled Vegeta into a seemingly random room. "You can sleep in here." She said, waving an arm towards a bed that looked twice as thick as the one in the capsule house. "And there's a closet over there full of things you can wear while we work on your clothes."

The saiyan nodded, looking at the closet door and waiting to be left alone. He clasped his hands behind his back, listening for the sounds of descending footsteps, but none went. Slowly he turned to see that the Bluehead was staring at him expectantly, and he raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I'm waiting." She replied.

"For?"

"For you to give me your clothes..."

"Vulgar woman!" Vegeta balked. "I'm not going to undress in front of you!"

"I didn't tell you to!" Bulma hissed back. "Go in that closet and change! I want to be able to give Dad your outfit first thing in the morning! And keep your voice down! It's 1 am!"

He was cursing under his breath about this "insufferable weak Earth girl", but he turned and made for the closet nevertheless. A few minutes later, when he stepped out wearing a black shirt and a pair of red lounge pants, he thrust he folded up saiyan garb to the Bluehead and grumbled something else under his breath.

"It's not like you didn't undress in front of me the other night, anyway." She huffed.

"What?"

"On the boat. You took everything off in front of me, like it was absolutely no big deal. And you call me vulgar now?"

"That was different." He growled.

"Hm. I don't see how." Bulma flipped her hair, crossing out the room. "I'll give these to Dad in the morning, then I'll resume work on my project."

"Just a moment. Wait."

She turned to see that Vegeta was coming after her. He held his hand out, grabbing her by the arm. "If you're going to be doing any physical labor, perhaps this will be in the way." He then pulled his hands away, and Bulma felt that her arm was suddenly lighter. She looked down to see that the golden shackle had been removed, with only a pale line around her wrist to mark where it had once been. She lifted her wrist closer to her face, inspecting the residual indent in her skin, and then she looked up to the man standing in front of her. "Took you long enough."

"Hm." He growled. "I have already explained why you were wearing that. I can't have you attempting escape schemes left and right."

"Well, that thing wasn't active for quite some time, was it? If it ever even worked at all, that is."

"Of course it works!" He snapped.

"Do you know how deep the ocean is?" She offered with a knowing grin. "And do you realize you didn't even mention the bracelet when you were yelling at me for not trying to escape with Krillin? That thing never worked, and I know it! It was just a clever bluff!"

"It did work, and you'll see how much it is capable of when I put it back on you." The saiyan hissed back. "Next time you get caught by a winged lizard that's going to fly off with you, I'll leave it activated and we'll see if you're laughing then."

"You deactivated it because the lizard-?"

"I am not discussing this with you!" Vegeta quickly cut her off. "Just… Go to bed, Woman! You've been acting loopy all day!"

.

The next day Vegeta woke up before the sun was out, per usual. As had become routine for him, the saiyan kept his eyes closed so he could sense his whereabouts. This morning he was encountering several new auras that he hadn't felt before. This didn't perturb him, since he knew that Bulma's parents were living in this house. But what had surprised him, though, was the fact that the Bluehead wasn't eliciting that warm and gentle aura that always came with her dreams.

She was awake? Already?

The saiyan didn't bother changing his clothes, and he made his way for the stairs as he focused her location. By the time he reached the foot of the stairs he had decided that she must be in the same lab he'd visited before. 'Already busy,' He thought, and he was a bit amused that she must have only gotten four hours of sleep and had already put herself to work. She really was excited to start her work!

"Is that you, Vegeta?" A voice called, so high in pitch that the saiyan was compelled to grab his ears and yell his grievances to the house he stood in.

A petite blonde appeared in front of him. Despite the early hour her lips were already painted a ruby red, and they stretched into an eager smile as she spoke. "Oh! It is you! Come on and sit down, sweetie! Breakfast should be done in 10!" Mrs. Briefs grabbed Vegeta's wrist and began to pull him towards the dining room. The saiyan tugged his hand back to his side, but he could smell the odor of sizzling meat and decided to follow her orders anyway.

She lead him to the dining area, where she immediately sat him down and gave him a glass of water to sip at.

"So, how did the trip go?" She asked, sliding into the seat across from him. "Did ya get all the dragon balls already?"

What was this? An interrogation first thing in the morning?!

Vegeta narrowed his eyebrows and growled.

"Ooh – how nice! Did you guys do anything else?"

The saiyan folded his arms over his chest and bit his tongue.

"Oh! Did ya do any sight-seein'? I bet you just went to the most beautiful places!"

Why wasn't she taking note of his body language? The saiyan moved his eyes down to the table as Mrs. Briefs continued to ambush him with her giddy questions. Even when she realized the meat was done cooking and she jumped for the kitchen to plate the food, her inquiries continued from the other room. Vegeta slapped himself in the face with his hand, wondering if a free meal was even worth this level of hounding, but before he could reach a conclusion Mrs. Briefs was back with several plates in tow.

"You know, I can see what Bulma likes about you!" Mrs. Briefs gushed, sliding back into the seat across from the saiyan as he began to devour his plate. "Oh - don't tell her I said that. She always gets so mad when I talk too much to her men."

"I'm not her man." Vegeta hissed after gulping down a mouthful of meat. That being said, he could easily see the Bluehead's side to those arguments that her mother was hinting at. At least she understood how inappropriate this all was… At least there was that.

"Well, whatever you are to her, I like ya. And Bulma is pretty choosey about who she trusts, so that says a lot, dear. She's only ever had one boyfriend, and that relationship ended years ago!"

Why was she telling him this? Did this blonde woman really think he cared about her past conquests? Vegeta put his fork down and looked up at her, giving her a questioning look at her raised his eyebrows.

"Oh! Look at me, I've just said too much!" Mrs. Briefs used her hand to stifle a mischievous giggle. "Let me go work on the dishes! You eat up, honey! Have as much as you want!"

.

Five minutes later the saiyan had finished his fifth plate for the morning, and he was continuing his search for the Bluehead. "That was too weird." He was muttering as he marched across the house, using Bulma's ki as a guide for his trail. Just as he'd suspected, he found her in the same lab he had encountered their first day together.

This time her father was nowhere to be seen, and she was sat alone at a desk that was parallel to her dad's. The Bluehead was clicking some type of code into a computer when the saiyan walked up behind her. "Woman." He said, and his voice was so abrupt that she nearly toppled from her seat after letting out a sharp gasp. "Kami, Vegeta!" She hissed. "Don't scare me like that!"

"It's not my fault if you don't pay attention to your surroundings."

"Don't blame me!" Bulma stood up from her desk. "You're the one sneaking up on people!"

The saiyan glared at the woman in front of him. She was rather on-edge for such an early hour, but this wasn't his first encounter with the hot temper she got while working. Bulma was being just as mouthy as she had been when she was working out calculations on paper a few days earlier. It was clear that, whatever she was typing, she was certainly using up all her concentration on it. "How long is this going to take you, anyway?" He finally growled.

"It might be days, it might be weeks!" Bulma snapped. "I'm working as quick as I can, but I won't be getting much done if you keep coming in here and interrupting me!"

"Watch yourself..." The saiyan hissed through gritted teeth. He was quite certain that his eyes were starting to bulge as he fought to keep his composure. "What do you... suggest I do until then?"

"What do I-?!" Bulma's glare quickly dropped into a thoughtful smile. "Oh! Why didn't you just ask that to begin with? I know exactly what you can do!"

"Why didn't you tell me to begin with? Last night would have been a good time!" Vegeta shot back, but the Bluehead was too distracted with her own mind to care. "Come on!" She said, walking towards the stairs to lead them away from the lab. "I'll show you something!"

She took them away from the parts of the house that he had already seen. And as Vegeta followed her with his arms folded over his chest, he was taken aback by how large this place truly was. "It's as if you live in a castle, and you're leading me to the dungeons..." He commented.

The halls were still dark from the early hour, but the sun was starting to rise in the sky. Through the windows pink and orange hues illuminated their path, which seemed to be never ending as they traveled through multiple corridors and cut across several rooms.

Just when Vegeta was about to ask how much farther they had to go, Bulma abruptly ended their trail at a thick looking door. "You know, this house was originally just a one bedroom unit. My parents had simple beginnings. But as Dad's career grew, he expanded. The part of the home that we live in is actually a separate building, but we connected the houses with a hallway."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow impatiently, wondering what this girl was getting at.

"Well, we only use this old unit for storage, mostly. But look, check this out..." With that Bulma finally turned the knob and pushed the door open, revealing a concrete room that the two stepped in.

The room was grey, from the floor to the ceiling. There were several blocks of metal scattered around the floor, and there was a florescent light that was buzzing above their heads. In the corner of the room was a weight bench, equipped with a barbell and plates that weighed up to 250 kilos.

"We stored a lot of junk in this old garage," Bulma said. "But when my ex-boyfriend started spending a lot more time around here, I decided to convert it into a gym for him."

Vegeta walked up to the bench, staring at its different parts as he tried to decide what to do with it.

"You can use that bar to-" Bulma offered, but she stopped short. The saiyan was already lifting the heaviest plates and loading them on to the barbell. He did it so breathlessly, as if he were simply lifting a piece of laundry! As the Bluehead continued to watch, Vegeta laid back on the bench, grabbed the barbells with both hands, and did 10 chest presses without even grunting. When he finished he slid the barbell back on its rack and sat up.

"You-" She sighed, amazement gleaming across her face.

"Not challenging at all, but it's better than nothing." Vegeta growled. "Impressive for Earth scum."

There wasn't much to say to that, so Bulma just let out a breath of air that she didn't realize she'd even been holding in. "My ex thought he was so impressive when he was able to lift that weight. And it took him months to work up to."

"Do you think I care what your ex thought?" Vegeta snapped, perhaps a bit more aggressively than the situation called for. "He sounds pathetic!"

"Hm..." The Bluehead turned with a shrug. She supposed she couldn't be too surprised by the saiyan's capabilities - this was Vegeta, after all. Feeling intrigued, she made her way to one of the hunks of metal that was laying in the floor and bent over it. "What about this?"

The saiyan looked up from the bench to see as Bulma clicked a button, and the slab came to life. The metal object stood from where it lay, let out a loud buzz, and then began to lift off the ground and fly towards him. "What the?" He grinned and jumped back so he could dodge the robot, but it foresaw his move and followed him before slamming into his rib. It was enough to provoke a husky laugh from Vegeta, who caught the robot in his hands to keep it from flying into him again.

"It's attracted to your body heat." Bulma explained. She couldn't put her finger on why, but seeing Vegeta's reaction was making her smile uncontrollably. "You were just lifting those weights, so your body is warmer than mine. That's why it left me alone."

"That's a good way to work on my speed." Vegeta replied, throwing the robot across the room and readying himself as it came flying for him again. The saiyan, knowing what to expect, was able to dodge the robot six times before it hit him in the stomach.

"It works like a magnet – the quicker you move, the more it compensates. Though I have a feeling you'll be too fast for it once you're fired up enough." The Bluehead said, backing for the door. "Come let me know when you start getting bored, and I'll make some adjustments. I held back a lot when I set this thing up, but you're a lot stronger than my ex was. Any updates I make shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."

Vegeta didn't reply. Instead, he let out another deep laugh as he narrowly avoiding getting smacked upside the head with the robot. Bulma was so thrilled at watching the saiyan's delight in her creation that she felt compelled to laugh along with him! He just looked so careless and happy - who would have thought that getting beaten by a bunch of training bots would be the thing to do it for him? She nearly giggled at the devious flare in his eye, but she quickly stopped herself, stepping back towards the door instead. Just as she was about to exit the room she gave the man one last look. "Oh, and Vegeta?"

"What?" He turned to see what other surprise she might have in store for him, which earned him a consequential slam behind the knee.

"When you do get bored with just one training bot..." She gestured to the other chunks of metal laying in the floor. "Keep in mind that there's three more."

"Wow." Vegeta licked his lips dryly as his heart began to race, the possibilities of dodging four robots at once flooding his mind. She had really created these? He'd make so much progress in his training, using these bots along. She really was smart, wasn't she? This was all so brilliant!

If this was what she'd already been able to create, then what could the project possibly be?

'What a woman...' The saiyan thought with a gulp, just as the bot slammed into his trapezius.

I have quite a bit of the plot planned out, but my updates may start to slow down. Chapter 12 is when the plot will start to become thicker, and I imagine the scenes will be more challenging for me to write so it may take longer to compose.

Not only that, but I just started three college classes recently so I'm getting a bit slammed with assignments. I also work while I'm in school, so it'll make scheduling a bit tricky. I don't plan to stop writing because I love it so much, but my updates may be a little less consistent than I've been trying to keep them. I really am looking forward to what the next few chapters will bring though, so I'll be working hard to get these up regardless. :) Thanks for reading!